J. Cole always knew he’d get signed to a label, but linking up with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation was way beyond his initial expectations.

After rapping for a few years in his early teens, J. Cole wanted to start making songs and got some production tips from a local group in Fayetteville, he then pressed his mom to help him buy the beat machine of his dreams, an Ensoniq ASR.

Part 3 after the jump

J. Cole talks about his first two paid shows, one at St. John’s, where he was a student, and the other at Loyola Marymount, which also gave him his first trip to LA.